Dick Cheney Charged

The new skinny on Cheney...

News breaks that Dick Cheney has been charged with bribery and conspiracy in Nigeria. He is officially a wanted man But:

Although Nigerian government officials said they would seek Cheney's extradition to respond to the charges, it's all but guaranteed the US government won't entertain such a request.

Yup. Let's just keep shining that good ol' light of democracy and justice on the world... by harboring a wanted criminal and refusing to comply with international law. We've probably invaded small countries for less. Ain't hypocrisy grand?

Walking Dead

It almost sounds like a publicity stunt for the third season of True Blood: news that Dick Cheney has a new contraption implanted to keep him 'alive' that renders him technically a zombie. Says the NYT:

The pumps are partial artificial hearts known as ventricular assist devices, and they come in various models. Mr. Cheney’s kind is about the size of a D battery and leaves most recipients without a pulse.

If the thought of a pulseless Cheny don't give you the heebie jeebies, nothing will.

Neocon Napoleon Complex

Reports the Business Insider:

Gideon Rachman of the FT is reporting that Dick Cheney may have had the intention of going to war with Russia over their invasion of the Republic of Georgia in 2008.

It's scary enough to contemplate the disasters hapless ol' Bush was pushed into by the neocons. But war with Russia? What is it with the neocons and their steadfast refusal to learn anything from history? Thank God even Bush wasn't insane enough to be led down that path.

Tortured Logic

The Wall Street Journal mincingly reports:

"[Cheney] called himself "a big supporter of water-boarding," which critics say amounts to torture."

When are we going to get a grip on reality and stop with the bullsh*t? To say 'critics say' waterboarding 'amounts to' torture is like saying 'critics say' shooting strangers in the street from your living room window 'amounts to' murder.

Every court in America and in the world considers waterboarding torture. The Red Cross considers it torture. The UN Convention on Torture considers it torture. The Geneva Conventions consider it torture. Hell, even the Spanish Inquisition considered it torture. That's why they invented it. Repeat after me: waterboarding is T-O-R-T-U-R-E. Got it?

And maybe the Washington Post should be making more of Cheney's statement in that it amounts to a public admission of guilt. As Andrew Sullivan says:

"So the former vice-president has just confessed to a war crime. I repeat: the former vice-president has just confessed to a war crime. There is no statute of limitations for such a crime; and the penalty under law is either the death penalty or a prison sentence for life."

Oh well... we can at least dream that American justice lives up to the standards of Rwanda, Bosnia, Israel and the various other places who actually put their war criminals on trial instead of on TV.